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Dell Technologies (DELL) shares jumped after the bell Thursday following second-quarter revenue that cleared analysts’ expectations on the strength of artificial intelligence (AI) sales.

Revenue rose 9% year-over-year to $25 billion, above the analyst consensus from Visible Alpha. Server and networking revenue rose 80% to a record $7.7 billion, lifted by strong demand for both AI and traditional servers. Diluted earnings per share came in at $1.17, up year-over-year and narrowly above expectations. 

"Our AI momentum accelerated in Q2, and we've seen an increase in the number of enterprise customers buying AI solutions each quarter," Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke said. AI-optimized server demand, he said, was $3.2 billion, rising 23% sequentially.

Server and networking revenue is part of Dell’s infrastructure solutions group, which saw revenue rise 38% to $11.6 billion. Client solutions group revenue fell 4% to $12.4 billion.

Shares of Dell, which edged lower during Thursday's regular trading, rose about 2% early in the after-hours session.

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After Salesforce (CRM) reported better-than-expected results late Wednesday, Bank of America (BofA) Securities analysts raised their price target on the stock, citing record-high margins and the potential of its new artificial intelligence (AI) offering.

BofA upped its target to $325 from $316, calling the cloud software company “the next quality GARP,” an acronym for "growth at a reasonable price." The bank’s analysts expect sustained low-double-digit growth moving forward, particularly if the consumer macroeconomic environment improves. 

The customer relationship management (CRM) company posted a record adjusted operating margin of 33.7% and raised its full-year guidance to 32.8%, but Jefferies analysts believe the actual figure could be even higher. The firm on Thursday reiterated its "buy" rating for Salesforce and maintained its $350 price target. 

Analysts also flagged the surprise departure of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Amy Weaver, which was generally taken as a neutral or slightly negative development.

Salesforce unveiled its Agentforce AI platform this quarter, which will offer autonomous enterprise CRM services starting in October. 

The new AI offering has the potential to materially increase Salesforce's profit, analysts at Wedbush Securities said Thursday. The firm reiterated an "outperform" rating and $315 price target.

“While still battling through various headwinds in a choppy backdrop, this was a much-needed bounce back quarter with CRM making major strides in the field around monetizing AI across its massive install base while generating solid bottom-line expansion,” the analysts said. 

Shares of Salesforce were down slightly Thursday afternoon at $257.77, trading about 2% below where they started the year. By comparison, 25 brokers tracked by Visible Alpha have a consensus price target of $307, with most rating the stock a buy.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) startups Anthropic and OpenAI have signed agreements with the federal agency overseeing AI safety to “enable formal collaboration on AI safety research, testing and evaluation.”

The announcement Thursday from the U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute at the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) called these the first-of-their-kind collaborations regarding AI between the U.S. government and industry to “help advance safe and trustworthy AI innovation for all.”

The statement said the memorandums of understanding will give the AI Safety Institute access to major new models from the two companies before and after their public release. It noted that it will allow for “collaborative research on how to evaluate capabilities and safety risks, as well as methods to mitigate those risks.” 

In addition, the AI Safety Institute expects to work with the U.K. AI Safety Institute to provide feedback to the two companies on how they can improve the safety of their models.

U.S. AI Safety Institute Director Elizabeth Kelly called the agreements with Anthropic and OpenAI just the beginning, but said they are “an important milestone as we work to help responsibly steward the future of AI.”

Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark wrote on the social media platform X that the company is looking forward to teaming up with the AI Safety Institute, adding that “third-party testing is a really important part of the AI ecosystem and it's been amazing to see governments stand up safety institutes to facilitate this.”

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Actor Adeniyi Johnson has penned an appreciation note to Instagram over the number of followers on his page.

He said, my dearly beloved instagram, after holding my account for 4years as having 2million followers despite having followers everyday and reducing my engagements to what only you and I can see, you decided to take me to 2.1million by May ending and now l’m back to 2million!!! This is just to appreciate you for your retrogressiveness!! You too much!!

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Social Security checks will be much smaller in 10 years unless Congress changes something about how the program works.That’s according to a projection released this week by the Congressional Budget Office, which estimated a key Social Security trust fund will run dry in 2034. The fund—which serves as a financial cushion for the program—is being drained because Social Security currently pays out more in benefits than it receives in payroll tax revenue.  

The situation will likely worsen in the future as the population ages, the nonpartisan research group said. When the trust fund runs out, the program will only be able to pay benefits based on what it takes in, which would shrink monthly checks by 23%.

The latest estimate is actually a bit rosier than the group’s projections last year, which had the funds running out in 2032. 

The report highlighted the long-term problems threatening the Social Security program, an essential social safety net against poverty among seniors. Stabilizing it could require either cutting payouts or raising taxes, both politically unpopular options. 

In the 2024 presidential election, Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have both committed to leaving benefits intact.

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Source: Harvard Health Publishing